


Season of the Witch

by wizardingtributeofhades



Category: Hocus Pocus (1993), Once Upon a Time (TV), Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Before the Queens of Evil, Henry is Bi, M/M, Nico is gay, Post-Wicked Witch of the West | Zelena, post blood of olympus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-04-28 17:48:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5099972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wizardingtributeofhades/pseuds/wizardingtributeofhades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sanderson Sisters are back, taken from Salem to help Gaea raze the world. With Gaea fallen and their magic fading they went to the next closest source of magic, Storybrooke Maine. With children winding up dead in town, the life sucked out of them until they're nothing more then husks. Hades does not appreciate souls escaping his realm and sends his son to fetch them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story I thought up last year but never got around to finishing. This year with another Halloween fast approaching I figured it would hurry up and squeeze the last bits of magic out before the Black Flame Candles magic is spent. Please read and comment if you like it! Kudos are appreciated! Enjoy!!!!

                The warmth of the day was long gone, a icy breeze chilling them to the bone as they huddled around the fire. All four girls had been up for hours, swapping gossip and scary stories, doing their best to scare one another. "What time is it?" The eldest groaned. It had been a struggle for her to stay awake this long but she knew the second she closed her eyes her sister and her friends would be running off, putting themselves in danger.

                "Three thirty." Danni muttered, glancing at the screen of her phone. "Only a few more hours until sunrise!"      

                "We are _not_ staying up that late." Allison ordered, throwing a bucket of water on the embers and pushing the three complaining girls into their tent. "We have a long walk to get back home tomorrow and I don't intend on staying here until five waiting on you idiots to wake up."

                "Why do you have to be such a bitch?" Emily spat. "Just because you don't know how to have fun doesn't mean we should have to suffer."

                "Maybe if you weren't such a little brat Mom would trust you enough to go out on your own, but since you act like a five year old I'll treat you like one. Go to sleep."  Allison snatched her sister's phone and shoved it to the bottom of her own sleeping bag.

                "I fucking hate you!" Danni turned to her friends, ignoring her older sister's orders to sleep. Allison sat cursing her mom as the three girls chatted, Danni now going on about how cute the mayor's son had gotten.  She fell asleep to the many sorted stories of how horrible she was to her angel of a sister.

                The girls went on and on, not one of them noticing the soft  music drifting through the woods like a fog. The noise washed over them at once, the words filling their heads until the only thought in their heads was one word, _come._ One by one they stood, walking off into the dark woods. Moon light flooded the clearing, painting everything a ghostly silver. Three corpses stood in the center, the moonlight avoiding them. Shadows clung to their paper dry skin. Whole chunks of flesh had rotted away to show the grimy bone beneath. Remnants of clothes hung loosely from their frail bodies, colors long faded and stringy hair framed their eyeless faces. Slowly the corpses extended their arms, glowing vials held fast in their bony fingers.

                The song swelled in their heads as each girl stepped closer, downing the burning liquid. Ice rushed through their veins, the enchanting music vanishing in an instant. Danni's eyes widened when she finally saw what was in front of her, the vial slipping from her hand and shattering on a rock. She wanted to run, to leave her friends and family and Storybrooke behind and run until she collapsed. Quicker then she could finish the thought a hand clamped around her neck, bones breaking the skin as the corpses inhaled for the first time in twenty two years.

                Allison shot up when she heard the shrieks, looking around the empty tent, only. She ran, branches and roots grabbing at her as she barreled through the woods. Her lungs burned but she kept going, crashing through the trees and bursting into the empty clearing, the silver light of the moon disappearing under dark clouds. "Danni?" The clouds parted and Allison saw them, three corpses laying in the grass, decayed beyond belief.

\---

                Henry had a bow strapped to his back, chasing  the retreating form of his grandmother as she ran through the woods, leaping over the knotted roots and weaving between low branches and fallen trees that tugged at his clothes and tripped him up. It had taken time and lots of practice, but Henry was finally able to just barely keep up with her.

                He smiled brightly even as his chest heaved and feet ached. Mary Margaret had been his favorite teacher, the one who gave him the book that changed their lives. She was his grandmother and step sister but he never felt as connected to her, to the Enchanted Forest, the place that should've been his home then he did now. With Snow White the bandit. He finally caught up to her, hands on his knees  as he gulped in air. "My grandmother is not supposed to be in better shape than me."

                "Well maybe if you didn't spend a year doing nothing but playing video games you would be in better shape." Snow unslung her bow, poking the boy in the ribs. "I'm glad you made it this far." The quiver followed the bow and Snow fell onto the soft ground staring up at the cloudy sky. "You know as much as I hated the reasons for it I miss living like this. Running through the woods and hunting, living off the kindness of strangers and my own skill."

                "I wish I could've gone back with you guys." Henry said miserably. Living in the city was amazing, waking up to the hustle and bustle, having Emma there when he woke up every morning. Loved falling asleep on the couch after gaming with Emma all night. Loved the people he met and knew, loved the way  the boy down the hall whispered his name as they kissed. But given the choice, the chance, he would've chosen going to the Enchanted Forest with his family. Would've given up the bagles and pizza, the cute girl that pressed him against the lockers at school and kissed his surprised gasps away, all his games to be with them, fighting the Wicked Witch, reclaiming the kingdom. His Kingdom.

                "It's only a matter of time until we find our way back." Ever the optimist Snow knew that one day she wouldn't have to fight anymore, wouldn't struggle toward that happily ever after, would be there living it. "Who knows, we might be able to make it so we can just come and go as we please. But," Snow sat up, a mischievous smile on her face. "There is no reason why we can't make sure you have all the proper training."  

                Henry stood straight, just like he had seen Snow and the lost boys do, he pulled back on the draw string, testing the pull before notching an arrow.  "Now before you draw back, find your target. Always know where you're aiming, _then_ pull back. When you have it back wait for the moment and release." The arrow flew from the bow, the tip glancing off the side of a tree, just not the one he was aiming for. "That was good," she said encouragingly. "Now you see that tree over there, the big one with yellow flowers. Aim for the knot in the trunk. Aim small miss small." Henry took a deep breath letting the arrow fly, he was a lot closer this time but the arrow still soared past the tree.

                A few more arrows went astray before Henry finally sank an arrow into the trunk. "Good job." Snow laughed moving to pull one of her own arrows from a nearby tree. "Just go get the arrows and we can start again."

                Henry re-slung the bow, walking off to where he hoped the arrows were. He tried to rub some life into his sore arms, wincing when his fingers ran over the welts where the drawstring snapped against his skin. Snow had promised him she knew a few a plants that would make them disappear before the sun rose in the morning but he refused. He wanted to feel the sting,  to look down and see them glaring red on his skin. It was like a badge of honor, tying him to his Grandmother, to the Enchanted Forest.

                The first arrow was stuck fast, lodged into the rough bark of a tree . Henry tugged at it half heartily, not really wanting to free it, liking the way it looked he decided to leave it at least until they left. Henry froze when he heard it, nothing more than a simple snap of a branch but it had his hair standing on edge. He yanked the arrow from the tree, holding the shaft tight.

                Nothing else moved in the woods, birds continued chirping, the wind blew softly.  Deciding it was nothing more than a dead branch falling to the forest floor he turned back. He only made it a step before a body slammed against his, both of them falling to the forest floor.  His head cracked against the roots of the tree, eyes unfocused Henry could barely feel his attackers blows they pummeled him.

                Snow ran when she heard Henry scream. She tore through the woods, moving like she hadn't had to in ages. An arrow was ready to be buried in Henry's attackers skull when Snow finally got a look at her. "Allison!" The girl froze, eyes darting from Snow to Henry. The moment Allison's eyes moved off Snow, the princess stepped forward, bringing her bow down against the young girls head, knocking her out.  

\---

                Henry woke up in a hospital bed, his entire extended family crowded around him and luckily everyone still had their hearts and no weapons were drawn. They were far too busy arguing to notice him stirring.

                "I see those girls every day at school Regina. I know them. They're just girls." Snow whispered harshly.

                "Yes well tell that to the wrinkly old hags in the mortuary Snow." Regina shot back. "And before any of you say it, I was with Robin, all night. The peas- Marian was there too, we spent the night talking pirate." She said as Killian's mouth opened. "The only two people we know of who are capable of aging someone are me and him." She turned on his grandfather glaring.

                "And as Belle can attest I was with her. Besides what could I possibly want with the three girls is beyond me."

                "Three girls died?" Henry rasped from his bed, groaning when he felt the IV tug at his arm. "What happened?"

                "What happened doesn't matter kid." Emma moved closer, taking his hand. "You feeling okay?"

                "Other than the pounding headache, yea." Emma's thumb was stroking the back of his hand, Regina quickly taking his other. "Hi." He said sheepishly. "What happened to the girls?"

                "Not sure lad. They went out your age and now look a hundred years old. They didn't handle the years nearly as well as I have." Henry was grateful for the pirate's honest, if not wishing he had chosen a different way to phrase it.

                "And the one who hit me?"

                "Her name is Allison Crane. She was afraid. Running from something through the night. By the time we showed up she didn't know what she was doing." Snow said from the foot of the bed. "I knew her. Here and back in our world. She would never hurt a fly. They have her sedated for now, she kept trying to run."

\---

                Nico had stayed at Camp Half-Blood like he promised, forcing himself to drop his walls and have fun.  When summer ended Nico went to Camp Jupiter, Hazel and Reyna were more than happy to have him and he was slowly but surely adjusting to being happy. Of course him being at peace was shory lived, his father Hades graced the dining pavilion with his presence early October, the wind spirits dropped everything and disappeared, the fauns look troubled, like they were trying to decided whether to run for the hills or ask him for money.

                Instinctively Nico put himself between his father and Hazel,  and was pleasantly surprised that both Reyna and Frank followed suit, within a second Hazel hidden behind them. Hades for his part kept his eyes solely on his son, never once looking at the girl he allowed to escape death.

                 "Not all the souls have returned to my realm." Nico growled angrily, hand twitching to his hip before cursing when he realized he left his sword in his villa, the sound echoed by Aurum and Argentum, the mechanical dogs slinking in from between the tables. "I don't mean _her.”_

                Despite the other demigods unease and tension growing Nico and the Praetors relaxed. "What do you need?" Nico knew he shouldn't offer, knew that he deserved some time off, deserved to relax with his friends, his family. But he also knew that it wouldn't be wise to offend his father, not with Hazel's life hanging dangerously between them.

                "Gaea raised three witches from Tartarus, Thanatos was about to collect them when they disappeared in the middle of nowhere Maine." Hades waved his hands in the  air as he spoke like he was batting away invisible flies. "I need you to go investigate. I've been told to not let you shadow travel by quite a few annoying spawns of my family at that infernal camp. I will provide you transport." He said shortly, spinning around and stalking off into the shadows and disappearing.

                "Well that was a fun vacation."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always, leave me nice things. Read and Review please!!!

                Henry shifted uneasily on the stool, the stitches stiff and itchy at the back of his head.  Some song he couldn't remember the name of drifted through the speakers of the juke box and if he was being honest he'd rather be anywhere then Granny's right now. He hadn't been allowed out of anyone's sight in more than a week now, the three girls death putting everyone on edge.  

                He wanted to be out helping Emma and his grandfather searching for whoever did it, with Regina trying to figure out how to stop it from happening to anyone else, to be out with his grandmother learning to shoot his bow. Instead he was at Granny's, empty save for him, Killian and Ruby. His hot chocolate had gone cold over hour before and Killian and Ruby were exchanging drinking stories from before the curse. "Shouldn't we be doing something? Anything."

                "Tell you what mate. You beat me at darts and I'll let you run off and endanger your life." Killian smirked from his stool. "But if I win, you can't say anything for an hour, your bloody complaining is driving me to drink."

                "Yea." Ruby snorted. " Like you need a reason to drink." Before Henry could accept Killian's challenge the bell above the door jingled to life, a boy not much older than Henry walking in. His black hair was shaved short on the sides, the shaggy top hanging in his eyes.  The aviator jacket was well worn, the leather torn and patched in spots and his jeans where shredded, healthy tanned skin showing through despite it being well into fall now.

                "I tried the inn but no one was there." He walked forward, big duffle bag slung over his shoulder bouncing against his legs. "I figured since it's called Granny's as well you can help."

            "Uh yea." Ruby forced a smile, "Let me just get the book." She locked eyes with Killian, a thousand words spoken without her mouth opening. The last time strangers showed up in Storybrooke they had been a Wicked Witch, and Peter Pan's stooges. The whole town would know about the boy before the night was over. 

            "So what brings you to town?" Henry smiled. Sipping at his cold cocoa nonchalantly as he walked closer to Killian. Greg, Tamara, and August, all taught him one thing. No one just stumbles into Storybrooke.

            "I uh- " The dark haired teen stumbled over his words. "My dad's car broke down, while I was camping. For school." 

            "Would you like a Garden or town square view?" Ruby burst into the room, her grandmother's big leather bound register book in her arms.

            The boy whirled around toward her, his hand falling instinctively to his side. "Square view." He quickly scrawled his name in Ruby's book, looked Henry up and down, blushing lightly before thrusting a few hundred bills into Ruby's hand he was off, quietly mumbling the directions Ruby had given him.   
           

            "He smelled weird." Ruby kept her eyes on the hallway he ran down. 

            "Please tell me this isn't some lead in to a he smells fishy joke. I've heard more than enough fish jokes in my life."

            "All 800 years of it." Ruby smirked.

            "Oi I'm 600 and not a day older." Hook said with a twinkle in his eye.

            "We need to call Emma." Henry sipped at the cold drink again before grimacing.

            "And tell her what? Some boy got a room at the inn and checked out her son."

            "Wh-what? He wasn't checking me out." He sputter into his mug, bits of whip cream floating in the air. Ruby looked down at where the boy signed.

            "Well I beg to differ. Mister Di Angelo was most certainly checking you out mister Mills. Besides I already texted your mother." Ruby smiled happily. "Why don't I make you a new mug."

            Once Ruby disappeared into the kitchen Killian spun around in his stool to face him. "You know, a few of my pirates were like him. Don't care what any of the bloody nobles had to say, those men were some of the fiercest pirates on my ship." Henry groaned into his hand, he was not about to have this conversation with his mother's 600 year-old pirate sort-of boyfriend. 

\---

            "There's something about him. We should have a stake out." Henry and Emma were walking along the empty beach, the salty brine just splashing against his boots.

            "I'm not helping you stalk your crush." Emma burst into laughter as Henry froze. "I'm sorry kid but Ruby is going to kill me for not getting that on camera you should've seen your face."

            "I hate you. Ruby too." Henry forced a laugh, shoving his mother slightly. "Fine he's cute. Doesn't mean he isn't evil." 

            "I know I never really talked to you about it but it's alright if you like guys. Or girls, both. Neither?" Emma shrugged softly. "I saw you kiss Christian, back in New York."

            Henry froze again, his face flushing. That had been his first kiss. Christian was the most popular boy in school, a lacrosse player, towered over Henry, nearly had to put his lacrosse skills to use pushing the girls off him and he chose Henry. Little plain ordinary Henry. 

            They spent the night out, Christian treating him to the movies and hot cocoa before kissing him softly outside his building. Henry had frozen under his lips. Christian had pulled back only for Henry to kiss him back quickly. The older boy smiled into the kiss, pressing Henry back against a car. He had kept that all to himself, only telling Emma he was going out with a friend. 

            "I was on the fire escape with Walsh. We weren't spying I swear it was just nice out."

            "I'm sorry I didn't say anything.

            "Don't be sorry. Wasn't my business."

             Henry stayed quiet for a while, dragging the toe of his boot through the wet sand. "Nico could be dangerous. He could've killed those girls mom."

            "I know kid. That's why Ruby is watching him right now." Emma smiled. "What do you think this my first rodeo. I had a tail on him since Ruby sent me a message about him."

\---

            Storybrooke was different, Nico couldn't figure out how but the second he crossed the border he felt his connection to the gods snap. Alecto disintegrated, the car swerving and bouncing into the woods. Smoke was rising out of the hood and Nico groaned, dragging himself out of the car. He spent over an hour at the edge of the town line, he tried to shadow travel, to send an iris message, anything, but all he managed to do was throw his drachma's in a puddle.

            After checking in at Granny's no matter where he went someone followed him, the weird guy with the leather fetish and a hook hand, the waitress at the diner, the sheriff. Everywhere he went, one of them was sure to be there,  just a few steps behind. He felt naked without his sword at his side, trapped without his connection to the shadows. Luckily even if everyone in town refused to talk to him they had no such qualms talking around him. Just sitting the diner Nico found out three girls were dead, the lives sucked out of them.

            The blonde sheriff was watching him right now, her glaringly obvious yellow bug  parked right outside the dinner. "Tell her to come inside. I'm not going anywhere." Ruby froze mid pour, his coffee nearly overflowing. A minute later the blonde woman slid into the seat across from him. "My name is Nico but I assume you already looked me up."

            "I did. And the name you're using belongs to a boy that died in the 50's. Where exactly did you come across that?"

            "I really don't want to do this." Nico sighed. Hazel, Reyna, Jason, even Percy would be able to come up with a lie on the spot but Nico just wasn't good at it. He hated talking to people as is, especially when he was forced into it. "He didn't-" He was cut off by a scream. Emma was out the door before the scream ended, gun in hand. Nico followed soon after, hand touching the Stygian Iron dagger under his coat.

            A corpse laid in the middle of the square, skin dry to cracking, hair white as smoke. Nico had flashes of the old Oracle, the creepy mummy his father cursed when his mother died. The gods were as far from this place as any and Nico needed to be careful. Emma sprinted off down an alley, Nico hot on her heels. The sheriff as tough as she might think she was had no idea what she was running into.

            He felt the familiar sensation of electricity in the air, saw the flash as he rounded the corner, and got bounced off the wall when Emma crashed into him. His head cracked against the bricks, his vision swam, and his dagger bit into him, the sharp blade sliding easily into his side. Hissing in pain he tried to stand, Emma doing the same next to him.

            "Oh a boy!" A woman jumped around in a giddy whorl, blond hair wild and dirty. "Come play with me!"

            "You're not playing with _anyone_." Emma's gun was nowhere to be seen but she held her hands out, aiming toward the witch.

            "Run." Nico groaned as he brandished his dagger, his blood still dripping from the tip. "I got this."

            "Are you kidding me?" Emma's eyes flicked to the dagger eyes widening slightly before turning back to the witch. "I got this." She echoed, eyes closed and hands out. The witch laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls and sounding entirely to happy to Nico. Electricity crackled around her fingertips but before she could as much as bat an eye, light exploded from Emma's hands, throwing the witch backwards.

            Gown torn the witch picked herself up, a snarl replacing the joyous smile. She raised her hands and dissolved into smoke, a sinister laugh sounded once she was gone, coming from nowhere and everywhere.                  

            "Who the hell are you?" Emma whirled around, eyeing the black blade in Nico's hand.

            "You already know who I am." Nico muttered through grit teeth, the pain in his side flaring back into reality. His shirt was soaked with blood, "Now just get ou-" His knees buckled, the effects of the magical metal taking effect. It was nothing like how it affected monsters, sucking away their life but it weakened any it cut, even a son of the Underworld. The whole world darkened as he fell.         

 

\---

            "You put a strange boy into the hospital?" Regina accused.

            " _I_ didn't put him into the hospital. I brought him there. The kid stabbed himself he-"

            "Because you tackled him." Regina turned the dagger over in her hands eyeing the cold metal. "I have no idea what this is. It's enchanted somehow, but not by any magic I've seen." Delicately she placed the dagger down on the desk sure not to touch the blade.

            "Well he seemed pretty sure of himself with that thing." Emma stood over him, studying him. "He told me to get safe and he'd handle it. He's using the name of some kid in the 50's. I have no idea what to make of him."

            "I guess we just have to wait."


	3. Chapter 3

            "You've got to be kidding me." Nico groaned the hand cuffs clanging as he tried to touch the wound on his side.

            "Not in a joking mood kid. Talk." The blonde sheriff was sat next to him, mindlessly flipping through a magazine.

            "You're a witch too." If the woman wanted to talk then Nico was going to talk, his head hurt far too much for small talk. "Just like that laughing freak."

            "I'm nothing like her. I can use magic but it's nothing like hers. Now who are you?"

            "I'm a son of Hades." Nico muttered tugging on the cuffs again. "Listen take off these cuffs, I'll kill the witches that are here and you'll never see me again."

            "You seriously think I'm going to let you go after you threaten to go kill people?"

            "They're already dead Sheriff, I'll just be sending them back where they belong."

            "What the hell are you talking about kid. Dead people don't walk around."

            "And normal people don't shoot light from their hands or disappear in a cloud of smoke. I may not know exactly what's going on in this town but you know as well as I do that you can't explain everything in this world."

\---

            "You're just letting the little creep go?" Regina spat.

            "Regina he's just a boy." Neal squirmed in Snow's arms.

            "So was Pan. This kid is claiming to be the son of a god, says that three dead witches were resurrected by Mother Earth. We can't just let him wander where ever he likes."

            "It's not like we don't know gods exist. We fought Medusa. Ariel's father is Triton." David wasn't sure he believed the boy but the things he said rang of truth.

            "That was in our world. Not this one."

            "Who's to say they're not in all the worlds. Or can travel between them. Mermaids can. There's plenty of ways between the worlds."

            "We're letting him go, but I need you to enchant this for me." Emma held out one of the boy's boots. "A tracking spell. I want to know every step he takes. Where ever he goes."

­---

            He was back in his room, wearing a rut in the carpet as the nectar mended the gash in his side. Emma had let him leave but he knew she still didn't trust him. The witches were in town and that was what he needed to worry about. Hades had not been keen on telling him the extent of the witches powers, just told him they were the most powerful a mortal had gotten in their world without the help of gods.

            "Electrical manipulation, teleportation, rapid aging." Nico muttered the powers to himself over and over. He knew better then to hope that those where the extent of their powers, but he was trying something new. His side burned slightly, skin flushed pink from a sip too much of nectar. It was a foolish mistake. Too much would burn him to ash, too little and the next time he faced the witches it would be with a gash in his side. A light knock on the door had Nico reaching for his sword.

            "Who is it?" His body moved quickly, he spent years with no more than stray breath or the prickling at the back of his neck to prepare for an attack. A second was all it took for him to join his father in the Underworld for the rest of time and Nico was not ready to make that long a commitment.

            "It's Ruby." Nico didn't move, stood stock still. Emma may have sent him back to the hotel but he knew he still wasn't trusted yet. "I have food." His stomach won out and the door swung open before his stomach stopped growling.

            "I knew food was the way in." Ruby smiled, a huge try of food balanced on her hand. Steam rose off a plate of fried chicken, a mountain of French fries piled next to it. Despite the delicacies a foot in front of his face Nico zeroed in on the two glasses sat near a pitcher of soda. "Granny only agreed to food in the room if I was present. So it's come down and eat with everyone in town watching or put up with me. Or Granny and while I love her she's not the friendliest, she'd probably bring her crossbow."

            For a second Nico considered the switch, the old him would much prefer a meal facing down a crossbow then idle chit chat, but finding Hazel, and bonding with Jason, Reyna, Will, they had all helped mend the crack in his heart, and he wanted to be better. Better for them. For himself.

            "Come in."

            The first few minutes things were silent, the only noises were two mouths chewing. "Granny's got the best burger in town, it's all yours." She held the plate out between them, letting hover just under Nico's nose. "Just tell me the truth. Are you really the son of a god?"

            With a nod Nico pulled the burger of the plate and tore into with a moan. "Hades." Under normal circumstances outright telling people you were a demigod, let alone one of the big three was not a good move, unless of course you wanted every monster in 5 mile radius bearing down on you but if even Alecto turned to ash at the boarder he figured he was safe.

            "You don't sound like your lying." Ruby said quietly after a few seconds of silence. "You answered one of my questions, I'll answer one of yours."

            "What are you? You're aura, it's... different." Nico continued to munch on the burger, doing his best to keep the moans quiet.

            "I'm a werewolf. Woah what's wrong?" Nico's heart sped up and his mind flashing back to Lyacon and his wolves. His scars still ached come the full moon and Nico was poised ready for an attack. "Nico are you alright?" Ruby slid further away, hands up. Her voice was slow and gently like she was trying to calm a wild animal.

            "I'm fine. I'm fine really." Lycaon was months ago, and Ruby wasn't part of his pack, couldn't be. But that didn't stop Nico from hearing the original werewolf's voice whispering in his ear. "I just have bad experiences with this world's wolves."

            "I won't hurt you." The words 'unless I have too' hung heavy in the air.

\----

            Granny's was mostly empty when Ruby walked back down. Slowly Nico had opened up, over many French fries and cups of Coke. The boy had gone through a lot, if he was to be believed. Snow had taught Ruby a lot over the years, forgiveness and trust. And Ruby trusted the boy, could hear the lingering fear in his voice.

            "Where have you been?" Henry was sitting at the bar, sipping at a glass of hot chocolate.

            "With your future boyfriend." Henry and Ruby had formed a brother-sister type relationship over the years, despite the small little crush Henry had fostered on Ruby before the curse broke. And as a psuedo big sister it was her job to tease the boy, it wasn't often they got the chance to relax, to act like normal humans. Their lives attracted chaos, and even if things were chaotic now they at least had some breathing room this time around.

            "You're the worse. Literally the worse." Henry muttered. "How are you all going to feel if he turns out to be evil?"  

            "He's not. Evil I mean. He's a bit rough around the edges but all in all he's kinda nice. I trust him."

            "My dad trusted Tamara. I trusted Pan."

            "I know we've had shit luck lately. Well for a while. A long while. But that doesn't mean anything. Snow helped me when she could've run. She did that for a lot of people. Everyone deserves a chance."


End file.
